The first group addresses environmental justice, often local and national in scope generally lead by and for people of color. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as the “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” (https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice) From the perspective of grass-roots environmental justice advocates, choosing to direct resources to reverse environmentally triggered asthma that disproportionally impacts impoverished African American is the logical choice. Responding to asthma is more immediate than saving the melting ice in the Arctic so very far away.

The second group addresses for climate change with a global emphasis whose proponents are predominantly white. Most scientists argue the planet is getting warmer because of increased levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. The irony is this: in saving the planet the pollutants that triggered asthma can be diminished.

And still there is a divide.

In many faith communities, both groups care for life, people, creation, and the planet. How we get there or respond depends on a more narrow emphasis on saving people versus more broadly protecting the planet.

In order for the two groups to work together to save people AND the planet, Dr. Glave urged the audience at the conference to actively improve inter-cultural communication with people of color to better understand their perspectives on environmental justice in response to environmental racism. Rather than impose one model of climate change often led by whites, a compromise could ally both groups to develop plans that speak to both environmental justice and reversing climate change.

I am grateful to be included with several other authors–Dudley Edmondson, Carolyn Finney, Audrey Peterman, Lauret Savoy, Camille T. Dungy, Frederick Douglass, and Shelton Johnson–in a 100 Most Read Books About National Parks.

“Though preservation of natural resources in undoubtedly important, many of the most popular parks that are threatened are not the ones African-Americans frequently visit. So the issue of whether overcrowding is impeding conservation does not have the same resonance in our community . . .”

An environmental and health atrocity has been committed against African Americans in Flint, Michigan. The water provided by the government, one of our institutions that is tasked to protect people has instead poisoned Flint residents. The City of Flint stopped buying their piped water from Detroit, instead using the polluted Flint River as a transitional source until Lake Huron water was available. Flint’s Mayor Dayne Walling and other officials congratulated themselves for saving Flint millions. Unfortunately, African Americans had little to celebrate. Some of the gravest fall-outs of this environmental disaster is that chemicals like trihalomethane, a by-product of disinfectant, in the rivers causes rashes and pipes leached by the chemicals cause lead poisoning.

Government agencies and political leaders have long passively neglected or actively abused African Americans when it comes to the environment and health. The United States has failed African Americans. And this is nothing new lest we forget the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment when from 1932 to 1972 scientists did not treat the syphilis in infected African American men in the study although treatment with penicillin was developed and readily available in 1947. The scientists watched the men slowly and painfully die from syphilis. Remember the aftermath of Katrina in 2005 when African Americans in parts of New Orleans and bordering parishes suffered for days in the Super Dome, the Conference Center, and countless other places waiting and waiting for their government to help to send help, to save them.

The challenges continue. Environmental racism is insidiously at work in Flint. Impoverished African Americans were stripped of healthy water, a necessary natural resource to be healthy, really to stay alive. Whites in power in the government transgressed African Americans in Flint. Whites used their power making adverse environment decisions to the benefit of white leadership and the detriment of African Americans in the city.

Thankfully, many have offered practical means of support including The United Methodist Church. Michigan Area’s Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey recently made a Flint Appeal, saying,

Flint’s pressing need for a new water infrastructure and the Flint children who face life-long cognitive and behavioral effects of lead poisoning require comprehensive and long-term solutions. We must deal with the systemic issues of racism and poverty that have been part of this complex issue. As United Methodists in Michigan I believe we must be part of those long-term solutions; we must be among those who are first on the scene and last to leave.

The bishop’s appeal and financial contribution provides immediate support with items like filters and bottled water. The Michigan Area also understands that longterm plans are required to rectify the water crisis and assist African Americans in Flint and across the United States to be healthy, self-sustaining, and independent.

A Black Environmental Liberation Theology (BELT) is being invoked and practiced by African American churches and agencies. The Michigan Area United Methodist Church are doing the same as white allies to African Americans exposed to environmental threats and health issues in Flint. “Black liberation theology, which decries the oppression of African Americans based on biblical principles–is the foundation of BELT, a nascent theology” based on environmental justice and activism by African American Christians. (Glave, To Love the Wind and the Rain, 190) Taken a step further, white allies like the United Methodist Church draw from this theology and are part of this activism. BELT is “a cornerstone of environmental justice” that dismantles environmental racism. (Glave, To Love the Wind and the Rain, 189) A practical theology is evolving as Bishop Kiesey and others in the Michigan Area craft an environmental justice agenda for change for and with African Americans in Flint. My hope is that theology will be sustained with longterm action.

Join me at the 7th Annual Kinks, Locks & Twists Conference focusing on health, beauty, and the environment. I will present and facilitate a conversation on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd at 6pm at the Hill House in Pittsburgh. The focus will be the history of African Americans and the environment. Registration is now open!